


Skipping through snow

by melian225



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Child Luna, Community: HPFT, Family, Gen, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 13:43:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14498247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melian225/pseuds/melian225
Summary: Three days after Christmas, nine year old Luna Lovegood is outside following some Blibbering Humdinger tracks when tragedy occurs back at her house.





	Skipping through snow

It was three days after Christmas. Nine year old Luna had run outside after breakfast to try out her new Self-warming Cloak and see whether it would work in the snow, as the label said it would. Now, bored with just getting cold and warming up again, she had started making snow angels on the lawn, waving her toy wand at each one and whispering nonsense words as she pretended to cast spells that would make the angels come to life.

Through the window she could see her mother, busy in the kitchen as she went about both preparing lunch and working on her latest experiment. Luna loved watching Mummy’s experiments, with the bursts of different coloured smoke or sparks that would result, and the strange things that would result from them. Their lounge room wall was covered with her mum’s achievements, proudly displayed for everyone who visited to admire.

Not that there were many visitors. For some reason other witches and wizards seemed to shun Luna’s parents. She’d heard whispers before when people had accused her dad of being weird, even for a wizard, and of going off on wild goose chases. Luna couldn’t for the life of her understand why anyone would want to chase a wild goose, not when there were Crumple-Horned Snorkacks to be sought in the wilds of Sweden or Norway, but she understood, even at her young age, that the people who talked like this may not appreciate her offering this sort of information.

Anyway, as Luna got up from making her snow angels and ran laughing around the yard as she warmed up again thanks to the Cloak – which _did_ work in the snow – she saw the billows of yellow smoke coming from the kitchen and smiled to herself. Mummy would be doing something particularly brilliant today, she was sure. She always kept her best ideas for the time in between Christmas and New Years, when she could be sure that both Luna and her dad would be around to appreciate and admire her efforts. Last year Mummy had invented a special amulet to wield off Wrackspurts, including a Nargle repellent, and Luna had affixed one to her bedroom wall to show how proud she was. Once she started at Hogwarts, in a couple of years, she’d be taking things like that to school as well, so that everyone she met would understand how fantastic and clever her mum was.

There was a banging sound from the house, and Luna stopped running around and looked back. The yellow smoke was still billowing out the kitchen window, but there was some black smoke to join it, coming from the floor above. Luna looked up and saw the profile of her father, rummaging around with his printing press as he tried to repair whatever had just gone wrong. Luna hoped he would be able to fix it – her dad was so proud of his press and the magazine that he distributed each month. She knew that it had been slow going but the circulation was, according to what Daddy had said last night at supper, going through the roof. Luna wasn’t sure quite what that meant, because as far as she could tell the only thing that went through their roof was the chimney, but Daddy seemed to think this was a good thing so Luna was happy for him.

Luna heard another sound that drew her attention away from the house for a little while. She was sure it was the call of the Blibbering Humdinger; Daddy had described the sound to her and it sounded just like that, and she was keen to see one for real. So she turned her back to the house and scurried after the noise, noticing small footprints in the snow that had to be those of a Humdinger. This was exciting, Daddy had said that the Humdingers very rarely came out in winter time, so if she could see one that would be a rare feat.

The tracks went towards the stream at the bottom of the garden, past the Dirigible Plum tree, so Luna hitched up her robes, pulled her cloak around her even tighter, and followed them. They led her on a meandering path, around trees and through shrubbery, and Luna was proud of herself for ignoring the Niffler holes and Bowtruckles she saw on the way. Those were boring creatures, her dad would say, compared to the Blibbering Humdingers she was seeking.

The stream had frozen over this winter and Luna skipped lightly across it, still following the tracks, and steering a wide berth around the Alihotsy bush that Daddy had told her was home to some Wrackspurts. She didn’t want her brain to go fuzzy now, not when there were Blibbering Humdingers about, and her amulet was back in her room. Maybe the tracks would lead her to a Humdinger hole, and she would see lots and lots of them inside. She thought about leading Daddy to her discovery, and how big his smile would be when she showed him what she’d found. Daddy was always pleased when she showed an interest in this sort of thing, almost as pleased as Mummy was when Luna tried to help with her experiments.

Eventually the tracks came to an end, ducking behind a large rock where Luna could see a gaping hole. This _was_ a Humdinger hole! Daddy would be so excited! Without checking first to see whether there were any Humdingers inside, she turned around and retraced her steps. As she got closer to the house she couldn’t stop herself skipping through the snow, her face displaying the excitement she felt at her discovery.

Before she could get to the house, though, there was another loud bang. Instead of the welcoming yellow smoke billowing out the kitchen windows, there was a series of sparks and some nasty looking grey smoke which smelled horrible. Luna stopped suddenly, acutely aware that something was wrong. She looked searchingly at the kitchen windows, looking for Mummy, for her smiling face that looked over at where Luna was and said that everything was all right.

But something told her that everything wasn’t all right. It was as far from all right as it could be. And this was confirmed a moment later when, from the wreckage of the kitchen, there came an anguished scream.

Luna knew it was Daddy screaming, even though it didn’t sound like his usual voice. And she knew that something terrible had happened to Mummy. She forced herself from her spot on the lawn where she had stopped and ran towards the house, jumping over the door that had fallen from its hinges.

Her voice stuck in her throat and she wasn’t able to utter a sound. But as she looked at her mother, lying there on the floor, she saw Mummy’s eyes flick her way and a smile crossed her burned face. Luna wanted to tell Mummy about the Humdinger hole she’d discovered, so that she would be proud, but the words just wouldn’t come out. So she just sat there with her mother, holding her hand.

And she wanted to tell Daddy about the Humdingers, and tell him that everything would still be all right, that they still had each other. But she couldn’t say that either. She couldn’t say anything. But she looked up at Daddy, who had tears streaming down his face, and he smiled a small smile and nodded at her, like he understood.

Luna smiled back. Even without Mummy, they could still be a family. She understood that, and Daddy understood that. And as she looked at her mother, who was breathing her last breaths, she knew that Mummy also understood. And she knew that wherever Mummy was going, she would be watching over Luna and Daddy. She would make sure that everything would be all right. Their own personal guardian angel.


End file.
